West Virginia
State earns ‘D’ in prosperity study
CHARLESTON — A lack of entrepreneurship and education have earned West Virginia low marks in a new report on prosperity in the United States.
West Virginia got a “D” in the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s 2007-08 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. Opportunities to build wealth and attain financial security are relatively limited in West Virginia, the Washington, D.C.-based organization said.
“Family financial security rests upon the ability to invest for the future and having safety nets in place in the event of job loss or emergencies,” President Andrea Levere said.
Chief among the state’s problems are a low number of households with bank accounts and low levels of small business ownership, according to the report. The state also received low marks for reading and math skills at the eighth-grade level and ranked 51st in college education rates.
“The state has the second lowest rate of households with interest-bearing bank accounts and seventh lowest rate of households with non-interest bearing bank accounts,” the CFED said. “The state has the second lowest rate of small business ownership and is 47th in microenterprise ownership. Women entrepreneurs in West Virginia are scarce (50th in women’s business ownership).”
The organization also noted the state ranks 41st in employer-sponsored health insurance, though West Virginia has the seventh-lowest rate of uninsured low-income kids.
The report does credit West Virginia for homeownership, housing affordability and low levels of household debt.
“The benefits of homeownership are also widely shared with strong ranks in homeownership by income (4th), race (10th), and gender (13th),” the report said. “West Virginians hold some of the lowest levels of debt in the nation, ranking first in median mortgage debt and third in credit card debt.”
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As session ends, ethics, tax items stalled
Measures offering ultrasound images to women seeking abortions and creating a single agency to manage the state’s vehicle fleet were among those sent to Gov. Joe Manchin on Saturday as West Virginia’s Legislature wound down its regular session.
With the economy still weak from the recession, lawmakers and Manchin both worked from hemmed-in agendas during the 60-day session.
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Snow hampered helicopter rescue
Three hours after a Navy helicopter crashed last month in West Virginia’s snow-covered mountains, National Guard medic Casey Dunfee cracked his cable on the floor of a Blackhawk rescue helicopter to break the ice and lowered himself hundreds of feet to the wreckage below.
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Varied topics left for W.Va. lawmakers
West Virginia’s Legislature headed toward the end of its regular session Friday with just a handful of measures from its recession-inhibited workload left on the agenda.
On the eve of the 60-day session’s midnight finish, the House and Senate began exchanging a final batch of bills that include several items from Gov. Joe Manchin’s agenda.
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W.Va. gets $22M for ‘bad schools’
Nearly $22 million in federal stimulus money will help West Virginia’s worst schools take drastic measures, including replacing principals and overhauling curriculum, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced Thursday.
West Virginia is the first state to receive money through the federal School Improvement Grants program, which seeks to improve student performance by targeting chronically low-performing schools.
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Dead bills pile up in W.Va. Legislature
Teenage tanners, seat belt scofflaws and adults who text while driving are among those who will evade further legislative restriction this year.
With three days to go before the regular legislative session ends, Thursday was the last day for most bills to reach the full House or Senate in time for a final vote.
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W.Va. Senate bolsters proposed FY11 budget
Federal stimulus dollars and a recent pension funding change have allowed West Virginia’s Senate to tweak the upcoming state budget by $248 million.
But the amended budget bill unanimously passed Wednesday still cuts general revenue spending by $47 million from what the Legislature passed last year.
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Proposed fees may doom election funding bill
The head of the Senate Finance Committee warned that the governor’s proposal to publicly finance state Supreme Court races could be derailed by concerns over the fees it would charge.
Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, a Pocahontas County Democrat, questioned whether his committee would consider the legislation after it advanced late Monday from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Mountain State cities may get more freedom
State lawmakers appear ready to increase the independence of West Virginia’s local governments, and they aren’t waiting on results from an ongoing experiment on the subject.
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Lawmakers entering session’s crunch time
West Virginia’s Legislature has less than a week to decide the fate of proposals targeting abortion, corporate political spending and prescription drug abuse.
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Foreman says mine boss ordered him to fake records
A mining foreman accused of forging safety inspection reports at a West Virginia coal mine says his boss put profit ahead of potential danger, telling him to stop production and evacuate the mine only if a federal inspector was watching.
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As session ends, ethics, tax items stalled
